US authorities are investigating reports that CIA Director John Brennan's personal email account has been hacked by a high-school student. The alleged hacker told the New York Post that he had found work-related files such as Mr Brennan's application for a top security clearance.

The CIA said investigations were under way, but did not confirm whether the hack happened.

The teenager making the claim has remained anonymous.

The use of private email by senior US officials has become a major issue in recent months, since it emerged that White House hopeful Hillary Clinton had done so while secretary of state.

use of personal email accounts for government work just seems to be laziness.. one does not put the 'launch key' on the same ring as their car/house keys...

it would be nice to know what email services these government workers are using instead of secure channels since, for example, gmail keeps -everything- by default one would think that the government official would be smart enough not to use such a service..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,, altho i think i answered my own puzzler in a way since government officials are rarely tech savvy let alone have very much common sense...